Old Habits
by bettertoflee
Summary: This takes place somewhere in Season 6B after Aria and Ezra have started to work on the book together, and after Ezra has had some time to heal. Aria finds herself overcome with the need to be honest with herself and with Ezra regarding her feelings for him. Just a little one-shot while we wait for Ezria to get their act together.
**Disclaimer: I own nothing :/**

 **My only plan for this is to leave it as a one-shot.**

 **This takes place somewhere in Season 6B... once Ezra has started to heal and move past Nicole. Just something fun... if you're an Ezria fan like myself, you might enjoy it. Nothing terribly graphic or heavy, just light and a little romantic.**

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Aria walked through the door of the Brew, the fresh scent of coffee settling her nerves. Years with Spencer had rubbed off on her in all the good ways, and though her addiction to caffeine wasn't as strong as her friends, there was something to be said about the wave of peace that came over her when a fresh pot was brewing.

She maneuvered her way around a few bodies and headed toward the staircase along the side of the building. As she ascending and came to the top landing, Aria adjusted the strap of her purse. She'd been walking around the block for about an hour now, trying to gather the courage to go in, and though she really only had her wallet, her phone, a few tubes of lipstick, and her copy of _Winesburg, Ohio_ , the weight of what she'd brought with her both mentally and emotionally was making the physical weight of her belongings sting more than they should have. She gently massaged that spot on her shoulder as she stared at the door of Ezra's apartment.

All of a sudden, her mind was racing back to when she was sixteen, staring at the door of 3B. She'd wandered by that apartment shortly after arriving back in Rosewood, just for the heck of it. She had no idea who lived there now, and thankfully hadn't run into anyone in the hallway when she was there, but there was something oddly calming about being in that hallway again… and she realized now, as she was standing outside a new door, that the feeling was still there. It had traveled with its tenant, and that was something Aria was acutely aware of. It gave her a great sense of ease and a great sense of unease at the same time.

Removing her hand from her shoulder, she reached out and knocked on the door, three quick knocks in rapid succession – a knock that she knew he'd know.

As soon as she removed her hand from the door, she wondered if there was a spare below the doormat. She knew there was one in the lock box downstairs, below the counter, but it was like an old, nasty habit, wanting more than anything to just reach down and check… to be able to just let herself in.

This was her problem. Ever since she'd arrived back at Rosewood and had seen Ezra, face to face, she'd been overwhelmed with thoughts of their past. Her consuming thoughts were one thing when Ezra was brooding and depressed. As she watched him drown in his own grief, she ached to comfort him. Yes, she had loved him more than she'd ever loved anyone, but they'd always had a certain kindred spirit about them. Outside of Spencer, Hanna, and Emily, he was her best friend. He knew her deepest fears, her most hidden secrets, and all of her joys and insecurities. She had simply ached to absorb some of his grief for him. It broke her heart to watch him slowly be eaten alive by the past.

But, as she'd spent more time around him, and especially as he began to heal, she'd realized that her desire to comfort him was not completely innocent. In the bottom of her heart, she was jealous of what Ezra had felt for Nicole. She wondered how he had been when it was her missing for weeks in A's dollhouse. Had he been as consumed with finding her as he was with the loss of Nicole?

It was a thought she hated herself for having. It wasn't fair of her to be making that comparison. Of course it hadn't been the same.

Forcing herself to stop thinking about the past, Aria leaned against the door, trying to hear if there was any movement inside. She was surprised he hadn't answered the door yet and wondered if he was even home. She figured he would be, since he'd told her he would be finishing the edits of a rather important chapter by the end of the day – Aria had quickly found that writing with Ezra was easier than breathing. Just as she was reaching out her hand to knock again on the wooden door, the knob turned and Ezra was facing her, ear buds hanging around his neck and her favorite grin plastered across his face.

It felt good to see him smile again.

"Hi," he said. "Come in." He moved out of the way and she shot him a tight smile, making her way past him. As he closed the door behind them he said, "I didn't expect to see you today."

"I just thought I'd come by and see how the chapter was coming along," she said. It was a lie and she knew it. Lying came so easy these days that half the time she wasn't sure what her own truth was. Actually, that was part of her problem, and part of the reason she was standing in Ezra's apartment. She couldn't handle feeling like she was lying to herself… to him… There were too many lies in her life for the feelings she had for him to be one of them.

"Well, it's coming… Can't say I've gotten far in the…" he looked at his watch, "three hours it's been since we last talked. I was just about to go for a jog, thought I'd clear my head for an hour or so… Aria?"

Aria shook her head and looked up from where she'd been staring at the floor to meet his eyes.

"You didn't come here to check on the book, did you?"

"Is it that obvious?" Aria said.

"Well it's obvious something's bothering you, though I can't be sure what it might be. Does this have something to do with the messages you've been getting?" He suddenly got a stern look across his face and he snatched the iPod off his arm where it had been strapped and twisted the cords around the case. Aria came to attention and stepped forward with her hands out, trying to gesture that there was nothing to get worked up about. Her words seemed to be caught in her throat.

"No, Ezra, it's not about A – or whoever – this has nothing to do with that. Please, I'm all right." She fiddled with the hem of her skirt, a nervous habit she'd picked up recently. She'd been trying to stop picking at her nails.

She could see his body relax, see the breath run through his chest in a heavy sigh.

"Don't do that," he said.

"I'm sorry," Aria said. "I didn't mean to scare you." She took a deep, steadying breath and folded her hands in front of her so that she'd stop playing with the hem of her skirt. "Look, I wanted to talk to you. Do you have a minute?"

"Sure, yeah." He tossed the iPod to the coffee table and held out his hand, inviting Aria to take a seat on the couch. She perched on the edge of the cushion and Ezra took a seat beside her. "Why am I suddenly very uncertain about what you're going to say?" he asked.

Aria didn't say anything for a moment, but when she did she looked him right in the eye, their blueness welcoming her home and instilling her with a sense of incredible ease.

"Because you've always known me better than I know myself," she said. "I don't know why I have such a hard time telling you what I'm feeling… but I do. I walked around for an hour before coming up here. I debated all night over whether or not to say anything. I…" she trailed off.

Ezra leaned along the back of the couch and let his arm rest so that his hand was right behind her shoulder. He reached out and his long fingers could just barely touch her skin. "Aria, it's just me. Whatever it is, you can tell me."

"I know," she said, more serious and more genuine than ever. "That's just it. When I feel like I'm losing control, when I feel like I have no idea what's going on, or who I can trust… when I feel like I'm inches away from being tossed back into that dollhouse, there's always one thing I know I can count on… and that's you." She took a breath to steady herself and stared back down at her hands, which her now folded on her lap. She could see the whites of her knuckles and she could feel her pinky finger digging into the back of her hand. "Please say something," she said, looking up to meet his stare.

She felt a tear start to gather in the corner of her eye and quickly turned away so that he wouldn't see it.

Then she felt him scoot closer and tuck her hair behind her ear. He brought his hand up to her cheek and let the tear roll onto the soft pad of his thumb and gently wiped it away. Ezra placed his lips at the top of her head and kept them there, buried in her hair as he brought her forward and let her cry into his chest.

"Shhh…" he whispered, still holding her close, still breathing in the fresh scent of her shampoo. "Please don't cry." He knew his plea wasn't enough to make the tears stop, but he hoped they were enough to let her know she was safe, that he cared, that it broke his heart to see her like this.

A few minutes passed, and once Ezra's grey t-shirt was soaked in a few spots, spotted with mascara and a little eye shadow, Aria pulled away. She took in a deep, shuddering breath and tried to give him a little smile.

"I'm sorry," she said. "This is not how I imagined this going."

"I'm sure," he said, chuckling a little. "What's got you so worked up? Are you sure everything's okay? It doesn't seem like everything is okay."

Aria reached down to the floor and pulled the book out of her bag. She opened it to the title page and ran her hand along the open spine, helping the pages lay flat. Then she traced her fingers over his writing and looked up to him.

"Do you remember giving this to me?" she asked. She held it out to him and he took it.

"How could I forget?" Ezra said with a heavy sigh. He leaned back into the couch and let a smile grace his lips, his eyes lighting up a little at the corners. "When you need to leave Rosewood," he said.

"Right…"

Ezra didn't say anything; he just sat patiently waiting for her to finish her thought.

"I missed you more than I ever imagined possible, Ezra. I still miss you. I… I thought I could move away, forget about Rosewood; forget about everything that happened, all the people I left behind. But I can't."

"Aria…"

"No," she said, cutting him off and standing up. She began to pace in front of him. "I'm not asking for you to feel the same way, or to even understand what I'm saying. How could I expect you to? _I_ don't understand what I'm saying. I'm sorry. It was a mistake to come here."

She stopped pacing and reached down to grab her purse off the ground, but as she did, Ezra reached out and took a hold of her arm, stopping her. His grip was gentle but firm, unwavering, confident.

He didn't say anything as he stood. His grip on her arm eased and turned into an almost featherlike touch. He trailed his way up her arm and let his fingers find their way into her hair, just below her ear at the nape of her neck. He wrapped his other arm around her waist and let it sit at the small of her back, bringing her forward with gentle urgency.

He had missed this. He had almost forgotten what it felt like to hold her like this, to breathe the same air, to taste her breath in the space between them, that gentle anticipation eating its way at both of them. Ezra looked down at her, settling on her eyes, and drinking in the desire he found there.

He wanted to whisper _, "what about Liam?"_ but he didn't.

Instead, he closed the gap between them and let his lips overtake hers. He felt her open up to him, her body relaxing as she sank into their kiss. His hand trailed up her back so that his elbow was resting at her tailbone, his hand trailing along the base of her neck. She fell into him with the weight of the past five years, and the way their bodies fit together was a breath of fresh air to them both.

Ezra broke away just long enough to whisper, "I forgot how perfect you feel," and he let his tongue trail along hers, memorizing the taste and the feel as if it was the first time.

Aria pulled at his lips, hungry for more, always hungry for the way he made her feel. Her mind was racing – this was not what she had in mind when she came here.

Maybe it was.

But it shouldn't have been.

In the back of her mind she thought of Liam, she thought of Nicole, she thought of all the things they'd been through in the past and all the things they were going through now… all the things that would come from this one kiss.

But, hell, this wasn't just a kiss. He wasn't just some guy. This was _Ezra_.

She let her hands roam up his chest, her fingers cupping his chin, tracing along his jaw line, her muscle memory screaming with happiness as she recalled every dip and dimple. She was so overwhelmed with relief and happiness that she could cry.

When Aria thought things couldn't get any better, she felt Ezra trail his hands down her sides and cup her thighs, hoisting her around his waist. She fit perfectly. Her skirt rode up as his hands continued to make their way further up her thighs until they were grazing the edge of her underwear. He didn't go any further and that made her burn with desire more than another inch ever could. She felt him move with ease as he carried her across the apartment and push her back against a wall.

"This is new," she mumbled between kisses, breathless, her mouth pulling up at the corners as she smiled, remembering the many times they'd made out on various countertops. His lips found the soft, sensitive spot at her neck – the one spot only he had ever managed to find – and as he sucked there, her breath caught. "Ezra," she whispered.

He let go of her neck, blowing gently over the light mark he left in his place. It gave him an immense sense of pride to see that she still reacted the same way to his teasing. "Yes, Miss Montgomery?" His voice was husky in her ear and it sent cold chills over her skin.

She looked at him, the way the sun was shining in from the windows made a soft halo around his head and she mentally snapped a picture of this moment. She never wanted to forget the way he looked at her.

"What are we doing?" she whispered, not truly wanting to know the answer.

"What we should have been doing all along," he said. He pulled her body closer to him, if that was possible, inching up her skirt just a little further as he held her there, feeling the heat of her body against his waist. He wanted her.

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 **Author's Note: I know there are a lot of nay-sayers about Ezra and especially the relationship that Aria and Ezra have had in the past. I assume that if you took the time to read this, you enjoy them together. If you don't, please just be on your way... I know, it's not right for a teacher to be with his student, especially when one of them is in high school. In this context, they're consenting adults and we're going to leave it at that.**

 **Thanks for taking the time to read. Hope you enjoyed.**


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